The Observer, February 9, 2007
Volume XXXIX, Issue 16
Free Speech Zone: Evidence of racism alive and visible
As much as many would like to ignore it, America's history does not follow the principles upon which this country was founded. The most obvious example of this discrepancy between ideals and reality is the institution of slavery and the disastrous Reconstruction efforts which have consigned African-Americans to a disadvantaged position in society to this very day.
This oppressive tradition has been coupled with an inexplicable and intense racism which intends to hold African-Americans accountable for their historic disadvantage, as if 400 years ago people volunteered to be uprooted from their homeland and forced into bondage.
Another unfortunate aspect of our nation's history is the way in which "nativist" Americans, whose ancestors stole the land we inhabit by exterminating the truly Native populations, have vehemently resisted, and continue to resist, the arrival and integration of immigrant groups into mainstream American society. But if these tendencies were resigned to the realm of historians only, they wouldn't need to be continually addressed.
There is no denying that racism is alive and well in America today, even though most of us would like to believe otherwise. We must keep in mind that not every racist is as dedicated or fanatical as the humiliating examples of humanity which fill the ranks of the KKK et al. And our "progress" on eradicating racism in America certainly does not guarantee that people who consider themselves open-minded cannot exhibit racist behavior or speech.
For example, the de facto racial segregation of America's cities, of which Cleveland may be the première example. Euphemistic phrases such as "urban crime" and "property value" are used by privileged and middle class white people to justify their aversion to acknowledging the ghettoized condition of America. It is to the point where people try to assuage their potential feelings of guilt by denying that poverty and racism exist at all, or even more worrisomely, try to make the case that somehow impoverished minorities "deserve" their lot.
Sadly to say, a university is not an accurate representation of society-at-large. Only within the setting of an urban institution such as a university can the apathy with which America addresses its race problem be challenged on a daily basis. In "the Heartland," racism has been largely taken out of the public arena; it is now expressed on an individual level – behind closed doors, and within one's own mind.
All the project of political correctness has done is to make marginally racist (or sexist, or homophobic) people reluctant to express their views in a public situation. It doesn't mean they won't demonstrate their ignorance within the confines of their own home or when they feel safe expressing such opinions.
Those of you who have had the good fortune of being born white and affluent have undoubtedly had an experience in which others are shockingly frank about their prejudices, even hatred, of another race, sex, lifestyle, etc. simply because they feel they are insulated from criticism while relating these feelings to "one of their own."
It seems that our country has a problem coming to terms with difference. While conservatives and nationalists will thump their chests and praise "the great American melting pot," they are expressing a two-faced sentiment (a genuine dedication to peaceful ethnic coexistence entails more than partaking in the Americanized cuisine of various nationalities). The middle class ideally dedicates itself to color blindness and ethnic diversity, but see how quickly these people disavow themselves of the "inconvenient" notions of racial equality as soon as a Black or Latino family tries to move in next door.
Witness how rapidly an unbigoted, politically correct individual becomes a paranoid and assumptive racist the next time they take a wrong turn and end up in East Cleveland. You cannot say that America doesn't have a problem with race unless you are choosing to ignore the problem, which unfortunately has been the nearly unanimous decision of our great middle class.
Pieragastini is a senior History and International Studies major involved with Catalyst: Students for Social Justice, Case-ACLU, and the Philosophy Society.
